Biathlete Irina Starykh has been pulled out of Russia's Olympic team after failing a doping test, the Russian biathlon federation said on Thursday.

"The Russian biahlon federation pulls the Russian biathlete Irina Starykh out of the team and informs all the organisations concerned," the Russian biathlon federation said on its website (www.biathlonrus.com).

In a letter to the Russian federation published on Thursday, Starykh said she has received a nofification of a positive A sample from the International Biathlon Union (IBU) and that she asked to leave the team camp.